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The great-grandson of Prince Otto von Bismarck, the so-called Iron Chancellor and architect of the original German unification, is doing his own bit of empire building: he is expanding into hedge funds.

The 19th century politician, below, notably stated: “When a man says he approves of something in principle it means he hasn’t the slightest intention of putting it into practice.”

However, his 21st-century descendent, Andreas Graf von Bismarck, has every intention of practising what he preaches.

The firm that von Bismarck has been running for several years to manage his personal wealth has just been given approval by the German financial regulator to offer a pair of hedge funds for sale to German institutional investors or qualified private investors.